Climate change has hit Canada’s best known natural gas fixture, the Centennial Flame on Parliament Hill, says Blacklock’s Reporter..Because it spews out 38 tonnes of carbon emissions annually, the continuously burning flame is going to be made carbon-neutral, said the Public Works department..“The department has not been purchasing carbon credits because it has been purchasing carbon-neutral biogas for the Centennial Flame,” staff wrote in a report tabled in the Commons..The adjustment is “presently underway,” it said..Bio-methane produced from Montréal-area landfills will fuel the flame. Managers had used a mix of bio-methane and natural gas since 2017. The flame will have zero emissions “once the contract for carbon-neutral biogas is adjusted to reflect current consumption,” wrote staff..The flame was first lit on December 31, 1966, by then-Prime Minister Lester Pearson as 200 schoolchildren sang O Canada to mark the hundredth anniversary of Confederation..“Let the world know this is Canada’s year in history,” Pearson said..The original 17-foot fixture cost $12,000, the modern equivalent of $97,000, and featured bronze crests of all provinces and territories..“The flame should become the symbol of our first centennial year and should not be extinguished,” said Pearson..The public works department in 1966 designed the flame to be “perpetually burning” similar to the Eternal Flame at Paris’ Arc de Triomphe but it was first extinguished in an April 22, 1967, Ottawa windstorm and has been routinely closed for annual maintenance..In 2002, then-Prime Minister Jean Chretien ordered work crews to extinguish the flame during G8 protests..“Listen, we will light it again. There is a lot of natural gas in Canada, no problem,” Chretien told reporters..“The amount of natural gas used to keep the flame burning on average in the last five years was 105,364 cubic metres annually at a rate of 23¢ per cubic metre,” said the report..“The amount of natural gas consumed annually, and the associated emissions, fluctuate from year to year.”.Dave Naylor is the News Editor of the Western Standard.,dnaylor@westernstandardonline.com,.Twitter.com/nobby7694
